Honestly, the sushi I’ve tasted (historically) in Italy has been underwhelming and often times just plain bad.

In all fairness, I grew up in a place — southern California — where some of the best sushi joints can be found in strip malls (not kidding).

So I was a little skeptical when Paolo said that we were going for a glass of wine and some sushi at the 300mila Lounge in downtown Lecce last night.

But, then again, I thought to myself, Puglia is one of Italy’s leading destinations and one of the originators of crudo.

The readers (and not the editors) of the Gambero Rosso voted the lounge “Italy’s best bar” last year and it’s on the shortlist again this year.

We got there around 7:30 and it was already filling up. And by the time we left for dinner it was packed.

I was thoroughly impressed by the cocktail program (with a huge selection of top-shelf gin, whisky, and Bourbon)… and the sushi was awesome, very fresh, not fishy or with flash-frozen flavors… really worth writing home about!